132 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



KIDNEY BEANS. 



[FDNEY BEANS are universally appreciated, and peer 

 and peasant are almost equally interested in their cul- 

 tivation, for, amongst the summer vegetables, when 

 young and juicy, they are equally elegant, delicate, and 

 wholesome. In English cookery the ripe seeds are 

 much less used than on the continent, where, for haricot dishes, 

 the small white-seeded sorts, in a dried state, are in constant request. 

 It is a question if the ripe seeds of any kidney beans (Phaseolus) are 

 altogether wholesome ; we incline to the belief that they possess 

 properties which render them objectionable as food, but there can 

 be no question about the green pods, as we are accustomed to eat 

 them, carefully cooked, of a fine green colour, and tender as the 

 slice of butter that the prudent cook will never fail to place on the 

 top of the smoking pile when they have been drained and dished 

 for table. An invalid may eat a dish of French beans or scarlet- 

 runners late at night without danger, and that is a peculiar test of 

 the wholesomeness of the dish ; for, with the exception of spinach, 

 there is scarcely any other vegetable that a weak stomach dare 

 encounter when the mid-day hours have passed. 



Kidney beans will grow fairly, and produce useful fruit in the 

 most trashy soils and unpromising situations. There is scarcely a 

 plant known to the cultivator of vegetables that will endure long- 

 continued drought with so little harm as the dwarf French bean ; 

 and as to our old familiar friend, the scarlet-runner, it is no uncom- 

 mon thing to see it thriving in a sort of cinder-bed, heavily shaded 

 by trees, in the garden of the cottager whom the love of beer has 

 seduced, and in whose garden, therefore, " the thorn and the thistle 

 grow r broader and higher." But the capabilities of a plant to endure 

 insult are not sufficient to justify careless cultivation. For that, 

 indeed, it should be shown that good treatment renders the kidney 

 bean unproductive, while a hap-hazard life is conducive to its pros- 

 perity. It so happens, as matter of fact, that this plant enjoys 

 good living, and never fails to make an ample return for it. The 

 lesson is consequently patent — it must be well grown in order to 

 attain complete development, and make its owner happy by its 

 bounteous dower of delicious fruit. A deep, fertile loam suits the 

 kidney bean to perfection. The situation should be open, sunny, 

 and sheltered. The plant is one of the most tender, and though it 

 bears drought in a remarkably satisfactory manner, cold and exces- 

 sive moisture soon bring it down to the dust or mud. The soil for 

 runners should be especially well prepared by trenching and manur- 

 ing, but the dwarf kidney beans do not so much need manure, 

 though they will always pay for it, if in other respects they are 

 managed in a sensible manner. 



Now, as everybody grows these plants, it may seem an over- 

 stretch of nicety to talk about " sensible manner," but we are 

 bound to begin finding fault w T ith everybody, by saying that every- 

 body sows the seed too thick, and leaves too many plants on the 



